Tales from the road: A visit to a salt & pepper shaker museum

Your blogger at  the Museum of Salt & Pepper Shakers in Gatlinburg, Tenn. 

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Civil War adventurer confession: On Sunday, I failed in my third and final attempt to find the grave of Dolly Parton’s great great grandfather, who served as a private in the 9th Tennessee Cavalry (U.S.). During family vacations, I often snooker/hoodwink/cajole/browbeat Mrs. B into squeezing in Civil War-related side trips such as my lame cemetery sojourn. Now this irritates her to no end, but I’m a firm believer it builds a strong marriage.

On Monday, while Mrs. B paid for our pancake breakfast here in “The Pancake Capital of The Known Universe,” I wandered up the hill for an oh-so-brief visit to the Museum Of Salt & Pepper Shakers. I knew of no Civil War connection, but the endorsements taped to the museum windows sucked me in for a three-minute stay: 

“This place was spicy!”

“You really cheered us up after a lousy vacation.”

“We’re young people and we actually enjoyed this visit.”

Shakers of all shapes and sizes fill the shelves
 of this odd museum.

“Explore the unique, amazing and unusual world of shakers. From Kennedy sitting in his rocking chair to shakers made of volcanic ash! You never will look at salt and pepper shakers the same.”

Admission is three bucks, which is a heckuva lot cheaper than a visit to attractions in nearby Pigeon Forge, including the upside down house, Happy Hippie and the Try My Nuts store.

Clearly, I wasn’t prepared for the awesomeness of the S&P museum. My gawd, the things are everywhere!

So I asked the bearded dude behind the counter, “How many salt and pepper shakers do you have in here?”

“More than 20,000 pairs,” he said gleefully.

Of course, the journalist in me wondered who counted them.

Anywho, the owner of the museum was on vacation, so I didn’t have a chance to, ah, pepper her with questions. (I secretly hope she was scoring a George McClellan-Abraham Lincoln salt-and-pepper shaker pairing somewhere.)

By the way, “Bearded Dude” said the owner has another, similar museum in Spain.

Let’s keep history — and salt and pepper shakers — alive.